


Life Saver

by knightinpinkunderwear



Series: Life Guard Foxy [1]
Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Accidents, Almost Kiss, Awkward Flirting, Awkwardness, Beaches, Chemistry, Cold, Day At The Beach, Drowning, Flirting, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Life Debt, Lifeguards, M/M, Mouth-to-Mouth, Near Death Experiences
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-10-05 04:43:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17318300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knightinpinkunderwear/pseuds/knightinpinkunderwear
Summary: Dearie requested: Foxy is the lifeguard on duty at the beach on the day Edward decides to spend time there with his friends Kristen, Jim, and Lee. The day is normal and everyone is having fun until Edward goes swimming and is swept up my a large wave and he almost drowns. LIFEGUARD FOXY TO THE RESCUE!!





	Life Saver

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mrgoldsdearie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrgoldsdearie/gifts).



> Sorry it's later than I told you, Dearie!

 

The plan had happened because the forecast said it would be nice and warm out. A day to the beach with his friends. Kristen, Lee, and Jim. 

He and Kristen both started the day slathering themselves in as much sunscreen as possible. Ed, like the red-head, was prone to burning quickly in the sun. And surprisingly, it was sunny out. A strange occurrence in Gotham. 

This was actually his first trip to the beach, he knew how to swim, but that was so much different in a pool than at a beach with bay waters that lead directly to the ocean. And it had sand. 

 

His choice to swim out farther than Jim had been a stupid one. Swimming out in the bay was much different than in a pool. The water moved you. He was fine at treading water sure, but Jim who was in shallower waters than him was at least 8ft deep. The waves were much stronger out here. This was a bad idea. He couldn't see anything, glasses left next to his bag. A wave slapped the back of his head washing over his face. His eye burned. And then Edward started to panic, the bottom was nowhere in reach and he could only see the warm blur that must be the shoreline. His eyes stung and as he gasped he sucked down a bit of water and the riptide pulled him back. Another wave crashed over his head and the panic only grew, he was cold and the water stung and slapped him. The lack of glasses only furthered this as he couldn't rationalize what he was feeling with any visual proof.

He felt like a little kid being shoved around in the meat locker at father's work. Or like when the other kids in his childhood neighborhood thought it would be funny to push him into the stream. 

He was scared and cold and trapped. 

And then someone grabbed him. Obviously, he freaked out more, screamed and tried to jerk away. Whoever it was was much stronger. They held him around the waist and pulled him along to a surfboard. He was still panicking, cold burning inside his lungs. 

He fell off the board and went under again, screamed and kicked at whoever or whatever was grabbing him. This time his lungs filled to the brim with sharp cold. His vision was almost gone and it hurt. He was terrified. 

And then there was pressure on his mouth and he was throwing up. Or exhaling? All the piercing cold left his lungs and left an ache behind. 

Edward didn't really come back to himself until he was sitting wrapped in a warm towel. He was still shaking, only vaguely aware of his friends' voices in front of him and someone sitting next to him, rubbing his back. 

Everything was blurry. Then it wasn't.

Kristen had brought his glasses. 

His friends were crowded in front of him, kneeling and worried. Jim was still wet so he couldn't have been unresponsive for that long. 

"You okay?" Lee asked. 

"I'm not doing that again." Ed answered, gently avoiding the question. He didn't feel great. A mix of nerves and residual adrenaline, his stomach was churning, lungs ached, and his head was full of too much panicked noise and bad memories. 

"If you want to sit here for awhile that's okay," an unfamiliar voice spoke. Ed turned, it was a man, dark skin and darker hair in short, tight curls. He was pretty good looking. He was also a lifeguard, and so far Ed had yet to fund an unattractive lifeguard. He had felt a pressure on his mouth. . .  _the hot life guard gave him mouth-to-mouth. The hot lifeguard gave him mouth-to-mouth!_

"I think I'll do that," he decided, turning back to his friends, "I'll be fine over here, you guys go have fun." His friends seemed a little hesitant at first, but after a reassuring smile they seemed to get it. Leaving him alone with the man who just had his mouth on Ed's.  _Hopefully he'd get to be conscious next time,_ part of his mind whispered as he tried to to look like he was looking at the man's lips.

"Alright, we'll come check by in a little bit," Kristen offered as compromise.  He nodded and his friends retreated a little down the beach to where their stuff was. 

"First time at a beach?" 

"I'm used to swimming at a pool, the water moves around a lot more," 

"That it does." The lifeguard nodded. 

"I'm Ed Nygma" 

"Lucius Fox," hmm, the name had a sense of deja vu to it. Like Edward knew it, but he hasn't met the lifeguard before. . . 

"Nice to meet you," 

"You were pretty scared out there, still a little shaky now, you wanna talk about it?" 

"The water's rough and cold out there, it brought back some vad memories."

"I'm sorry about that, Ed." And he seemed to really mean it too. 

 "Lucius Fox! You wrote a thesis paper on plasma conversion into electrical current!" That was why his name seemed so familiar! Edward had probably read the paper a dozen times. Not that he'd forgotten any bit of It (he could probably recite his favourite paragraphs). It was simply fascinating!

"I did," Lucius looked so appreciative of that recognition. 

"I read it! It was absolutely fascinating!" The cold was draining away and replaced with scientific enthusiasm and joy. 

"I'm glad you think so," Lucius had a very nice smile. It was warm and bright, like the sand of the beach or the unusual amount of sun peaking through the cloud cover. 

"What are you doing here, being a life guard? Didn't you get hired by Wayne Enterprises or something?" 

"I wanted to finish up the summer here then start," Lucius smiled, not seeming to find any of Ed's behavior too nosy or irritating. "Would you like to get coffee sometime this week? My treat," 

"Are diamonds and graphene allotropes?!" Edward couldn't help it, at least it wasn't a riddle this time. "Sorry, Yes, I'd love to." 

"Don't apologise, I think it was sweet." Oh no. He might have been reading the signals wrong. Was this flirting? Was he just overestimating what it was like to have a new friend? Either way, now Ed was blushing, he could feel the warmth and pink flush in his cheeks and starting to climb up his ears. 

"I think you're sweet too," Ed said bashfully, taking a chance to try and flirt back. Though honestly, all his previous attempts to flirt with previous crushes had gone horribly so he didn't actually know if this counted at flirting? He hoped he was giving the right signals. Lucius smiled more, the corners of his eyes crinkling, oh that was cute. Very much so. Wow he was attractive. 

Edward left his first visit to the beach with a goofy grin and a phone number scrawled on his arm. His friends seemed happy for him, though honestly, he was a little to absorbed in a little bubble of admiration and awe to care if they hadn't have been. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it.


End file.
